When Harry Kane lifted the European shoe this past summer as Europe’s top goalscorer, he became the first Englishman in nearly 25 years to achieve the honour.
The last player and actually the first English name to achieve this accolade is now using his achievements as proof of the hard work that got him to the top of the game as he settles into management in the National League.
Kevin Phillips took over the reins at Fylde in October, having already achieved success in his short managerial career in the non-league.
It’s a full-circle moment for the former striker, who began life outside the Football league before playing at the very top, earning international honours and becoming Europe’s top goal-getter.
And while that award was a highlight of an illustrious career, speaking exclusively to DAZN News , Phillips insists it wouldn’t have been possible without the work he put in to push himself after rejection at a young age.
“That's right up there at the very top of my playing career and achievements that I had.” Phillips told us when asked about his European Shoe.
“But there's been many, many things that have stood out in my career. First and foremost, being told at 18 that I wasn't good enough to become a professional footballer and having my dream shattered at such a young age.
“Then, to defy the odds and believe in myself to go away, work hard and then get an opportunity at Watford to become a professional footballer two and a bit years later just proved to myself that I was good enough.
“And then it's about whether I could really progress and move forward. And things happened really quick in my professional career.”
AFC Fylde
After the goals...what next?
Quick, maybe, but Phillips squeezed every last moment out of his playing career, and after Sunderland, he turned out for seven more teams and played until he was 41 in the Championship with Leicester City.
He admits, having come into the game late, he had a drive to play for as long as he could. However, when it came to hanging up the boots, coaching wasn’t on his mind until a chance touchline meeting with the late Craig Shakespeare.
“I was heading down the media route. I'd always done a fair bit of media in my playing career, but late on, I was starting to do a lot more. So I was doing a lot of work for Sky and I just saw myself as going down that route.
“It was really just a chance conversation with the late, great Craig Shakespeare. I wouldn't say we'd known each other, but we'd crossed paths over the years, and I remember walking down the touchline when I played for Crystal Palace, and we were playing Leicester.
I was a sub at the time, and I was walking alongside Craig, and he just said to us, you know, what's your situation at Crystal Palace?
“And I said, well, you know, I'm here till the end of the season. And he said, well, how'd you fancy coming to Leicester as a player/coach? And it was only after that conversation that I thought, well, coach, I'll have a think about that.
And low and behold, I ended up leaving Palace in the January window and going to Leicester for the rest of the season as a player.
“Then I joined the coaching staff at the end of that season under Nigel Pearson and Craig and took the strikers, I coached Jamie Vardy and David Nugent at the time. I really enjoyed it and fell into it that way.”
Phillips, the manager
Coaching roles at Derby and Stoke followed before Phillips finally flexed his muscles as a number one in the Northern Premier League with South Shields.
Returning to the North East, the former Black Cat enjoyed success again, leading the side to promotion in his second season with the club, a feat Phillips says ‘was right up there with everything I've achieved in football.'
His quick success saw him land the Hartlepool job, and although Phillips enjoyed his time at a big club in the context of the National League, things didn’t go to plan in the long term, and that is why he now finds himself in Lancashire with AFC Fylde.
“It's in the part of the country that I know fairly well, having my time at Blackpool. It’s a very ambitious club when you see it with the facilities and where they want to be along the road.” Phillips explains on the decision to take the role this past autumn.
“It was another opportunity for me to get back into management. And I'm very thankful to the owner here, David, and I've dived in headfirst. I want to come and be successful.”
- Read next I Tales from the National League: How Kelvin Davis made the right call by taking the reins at Eastleigh
AFC Fylde
Putting in the work at Fylde
But like anything, success comes with putting in the miles, and it’s the hard work that got the forward to the top of the game that he knows he’ll have to put in to get Fylde to the next level.
“It's been a tough, tough season for AFC Fylde. And it will take some serious hard work for us to get to where we want to go.
“But certainly, we're doing that. We've shown glimpses of what we can do in some of the performances since I've been here.
"We've shown in half the games this season that we can mix it with anyone, but what we haven't shown is consistency. And that's probably been the problem of this football club in the last 18 months.
“So I need to find that. I need to try and move a few on, get a few players through the door to freshen it up, to challenge other people and to make us a better side.
"I certainly feel we can do that. I think we're an attractive club. If we can get that all right, I certainly see us heading in the right direction.”
Whether that direction leads any Fylde players to the same feats as Phillips remains to be seen, but finishing by going back to his playing career and that award in 2000. How does he really feel to see his achievement finally being matched?
“I have to say I'm slightly jealous or, you know, gutted that he did do it because I'd love that to stand forever.” Says the now 51-year-old.
“But if there's someone I wanted to lose it to, I've got no problem with England's all-time leading goalscorer in Harry Kane. For it to have stood that long, I was very proud of that.”
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